Skyrim Darkfall Cave Walkthrough

In Skyrim, the hero must get to Darkfall Cave to continue in his quest to find Auriel's Bow. This is the start of the Touching the Sky Quest. The journey to get to the darkfall cave is treacherous and involves the hero climbing through rocky areas and combating Forsworn. Within the Darkfall Cave itself, the hero must find a way further into the cave and overcome numerous tricky foes before getting to meet the Knight Paladin Gelebor. This will guide the hero on how to get to Darkfall Cave and then navigating the dangers of Darkfall Cave to get to Gelebor's shrine to Auriel.

Darkfall Cave is located west of Dragon Bridge. The location of the darkfall cave is discovered after the hero deciphers the elder scroll within the ancestor glade. Fast travel from this area to Dragon Bridge. Head in a generally southwest and then northwest direction from Dragon Bridge to darkfall cave. The hero will have to climb through some rocky areas and fast moving streams to navigate this treacherous area and move closer to darkfall cave. Eventually, the hero will reach Bruca's Leap Redoubt. Defeat some Forsworn here using various combat tactics. The area west of Bruca's Leap Redoubt and before darkfall cave is relatively straightforward compared to the initial path from Dragon Bridge to the redoubt and the hero should have no problems traveling in the areas beyond Bruca's Leap Redoubt. Finally, the hero will get to Darkfall Cave. Enter the cave.

The path in Darkfall Cave is relatively linear initially but appears to be bringing the hero nowhere. That is, until the hero reaches a bridge. Beyond the bridge is a small landing which appears to be a dead end. Frustated, the hero returns onto the bridge. The bridge collapses and sends the hero falling into the darkness and stream below.

The hero will land somewhere at the bottom in water and find himself amongst some frostbite spiders.The hero should be in sneak mode before falling, as this will allow the hero to be still in sneak mode after falling. In this mode, Serana will attack the frostbite spiders upfront, and the hero can do sneak and bow attacks from the back.

Once these spiders are defeated, follow the marker (mark the touching the sky quest as the main quest in the journal area) and go through a series of narrow cave corridors until the hero reaches a dead Breton and an area with some bed rolls. Pick up the darkfall cave note from the dead Breton and note the dangers going deeper into Darkfall Cave - trolls. Snuggle into the bedroll and have some sleep before moving on, as the journey beyond the Darkfall Cave is long, tedious and treacherous and will test the hero in every way possible. Upon waking up, continue further into Darkfall Cave. There appears to be only one way out of this area - a narrow cave tunnel that leads downwards. The hero will recognize that this is the right way by noticing a trip wire on the ground. The hero can jump past the trip wire, but Serana is likely to trip the wire. This will send a pile of rocks falling down the cave passageway onto and behind the hero. Avoid this by pressing the hero against the walls of the cave.

The hero journeys on, and eventually reaches a large cavern filled with ankle high-water and two trolls in the distance. By this stage, the low or mid-level archer hero will have proficient enough archery and sneak skills and can defeat the trolls from afar without having to resort to melee attacks, which can be especially painful and tedious against the regenerating trolls. Go into sneak mode, and draw your bow (Forsworn bow with arrows). Sneak attack the first troll from far, and then attack the troll again. It will fall from this duo arrow attack. The second troll will still be unaware of what has just happened. Move into the ideal tactical position and do the same with the second troll.

This cavern is huge and the hero should explore this for treasure. The way to continue on in the main quest is to head west in the cavern and see a warrior in armor in the distance. This is the Knight Paladin Gelebor. He has erected a shrine to Auriel within darkfall cave. Gelebor's beloved temple has fallen to the betrayed (the falmers) and his brother has gone astray. Gelebor asks that the hero take down his brother and reclaim the temple. Only then will the hero claim Auriel's Bow.

However, the way to Auriel's temple is long, tedious and really a survival dungeon crawl........